Improvement in chronometric locks



f 'Unir-an raras PATENT OFFICE.

JN0. Y. SAVAGE, or New YORK, N. Y.

IIIVI'PROVEME'NT IN CHRON'OMETRIC LOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l5,321, dated October 9, 1847.'l

` To all whom, it 'may concern:

' which is to be secured, there not being any key-hole or other opening through the door for the introduction of a key or other i nstru-y ment to operate onthe bolt or fastening. l Within the vault or apartment there is to be placed a time-piece, which is lto be so constructed as that it shall be capable of running for the greatest length ot' time that it may be knecessary to vkeep the-door closed.

In the drawings accompanying this specifif-cation I'have represented an index-plate having thirty-six divisions, representing hours; but the time-piece and the apparatus appended thereto may, of course, be so constructed as to y be adapted to operate f or a less or greater number of hours, it' desired; probably sixty hours may be sufficient in most cases.

The time-piece may be constructed in any of the known ways of making such instruments; but I' intend, in general, to employ an eightday time piece, furnished withtwo mainsprings, each of sufficient strength to keep the time-piece in motion should one of them break by accident, and as a further guard I intend to add a detached lever escapement to prevent the possibility of its being stopped by a 'sudden jar. 0n the hour-socket l at'tiX aroller or wheel resembling the roller on a detached lever. A tooth on a lever or arm that releases the bolt at a given hour is made at the proper time to fall into a notch on the periphery of the abovejnamed roller, and when it does so the apparatus by which the retracting of the bolt or bar by which the door is secured is effected, is broughtinto operation. Besides the bolt or bar and the other apparattis which I am about to describe, andwhich is to be operated on without the intervention of a key, any additional fastening may, of course, be used, but this I deem not only unnecessary,

l but unad'visable, as I prefer to make the door that is to be secured of one Hat plate without any openingsthrough it, and to cause it to tit in such manner within its frame that neither around itsedges or elsewhere there may be' any opening for the introduction of any instrument by which force could be applied to it.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a view of the al'iparatus'placed in the interior of a vault. l

AA is the door, and B B the bolt. or sliding barby which it is to 'be fastened. The end B ot' this bolt is beveled in the inanner of the spring-'bolt ot a common lock, andthe door is fastened, therefore, by merely pushing it to. At a it is shown as furnished wit-h a frictionroller by Awhichiits motion when pushed back is facilitated. lt is made to slide lwith little friction in the staples C C, and mayr bear on friction-rollers within them. D is a spring by closed.

E E is the time-piece, the faceof which is represented as divided into thirty six equal parts, to either of'which the indeX'may be set. F F is a box, similar to that of a lock and containingasliding bolt, G, (shown most distinctly that apparatus.

'In`Fig. 1 the bolt G is-shown as protruded occupies when the door is capable of being opened.

In Fig. and when it is in this position the bolt B is forced forwardv so that its end B secures the door A and prevents its being opened.

In Fig. 2, b is the wheel or roller on the hoursocket, which is represented in dotted lines. This roller lies directly against 'the inside of the dial-plate.

c c is a lever or arm that works on a jointtooth, that falls into a notch on the periphery of the roller b, when said roller has arrived at the point designated for the opening of the door. c is a spring that bears against the socket of the hour-wheel, serving to keep the wheel b, and to cause the detent or tooth to fallinto the notch. H is a pulley or grooved wheel afiixed on a stout arbor, at f, andI 'a which it isforced forward when the door isv in Fig. 2,) which is a view of the back part of,

fromlhe box F, and in the position which it 2 the bolt G is shown as retracted,

pin at d, and has on its vupper end a detent o1" upper end of the lever c iu contact with the weight suspended by a cordor chain, g g, that passes around the groove in the pulley. On the inner side of this pulley and firmly affixed to it there is an arm or projecting piece, (shown by the dotted lines h h,) the outer end of which arm, when the pulley is turned round, will be brought into contact with the stop-pins (shown by the dotted lines i i) that project out from the face of the box F F, so as nearly to touchv the pulley H. Upon the outer end of this arm h the lower end of the lever c bea-rs, while the tooth at its upper end rests on the periphery of the roller b; but when this tooth falls into the notch on said roller, the lower end of the lever c will be freed from its bearing on the arm h, and the weight I will canse the pulley H to perform a half-revolution,'the arm being arrested by one of the stop-pins, i.

On the inner side of the plate F F and on A the same arbor fthere is a crank, or rather a I the projecting part B of the bolt B when said bolt is in the position to fast-en the door. This will prevent said bolt from being moved back by any instrument introduced through holes drilled in the door. This latch has its jointpin at l, and has a lip on its under side at m, by the aid of which the bolt G lifts it as soon as it begins to advance.

It is not necessary to designate the number of' teeth on the wheels, or of leaves on the pinions that are to govern the movement of the time part of the apparatus, as these will be varied according to the number of divisions on the dial-plate, and other circumstancesl with which every maker of such movements is familiar.

The manner of using the apparatus will be obvious fromv the foregoing description of it; all that is necessary, the time piece being. wound up, the bolt G being retracted, and the pulley, with the weight appended thereto, placed in the proper position, bein gto set the index to the point that designates the number of hours that are to elapse before the door can be opened. In setting it the index is rst turned to 36, andthe tooth on the lever will be then forced into the notch on the roller by the action of the spring. The lower end ot the lever is then out of the way of the arm h. When the index is, moved from this position an inclined plane on the tooth of the lever causes it to rise onto the periphery'of the roller, throwing the end of the lever onto thearm 7t,`where it will remain until `by the going ot' the time-piece the tooth falls into the notch on the roller, admitting of the opening ofth erdoor.

Having thus fully described the manner in which I construct my self-acting lock, and shown the manner in which the respective parts thereof operate, what 1 claim therein. as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

The manner herein set forth of securing the doors of bank-vaults, safes, and other structures of a like character by placing within such structure a time-piece which may be so set as to cause the` bolt or bar by which the door is fastened to slide back uuderan arrangement of parts, substantially the same within that herein set forth-that is to say, by the action ot' the lever or arm c e, the roller b, the pulley and weight H and I, and the crankpin j, operating on the boltG G, as set forth, the whole combination and arrangement being substantially the same with that herein fully made known, together with such variation in the form or connection of the respective parts as maybe made therein without altering" the principle of action, producing a like result by i.

means substantially the same.

" JOHN Y. SAVAGE.

Vitnesses: 4

i Trios. P. JONES,

Lam.. WILLIAMS. 

